ESO eso1331-en-ie: ALMA Prenatal Scan Reveals Embryonic Monster Star. New observations using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter array (ALMA) have given astronomers the best view yet of a monster star in the process of forming within a dark cloud. A stellar womb with over 500 times the mass of the ...

New observations using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter array (ALMA) have given astronomers the best view yet of a monster star in the process of forming within a dark cloud. A stellar womb with over 500 times the mass of the Sun has been found — the largest ever seen in the Milky Way — and it is still growing. The embryonic star within the cloud is hungrily feeding on material that is racing inwards. The cloud is expected to give birth to a very brilliant star with up to 100 times the mass of the Sun.

5 July 2013: With Dr Jörg Dietrich (Universitäts-Sternwarte der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität) Astronomers believe that all the matter we know of, in the whole Universe, has been accumulating on an invisible scaffold made of dark ...